Spinutech Announces Expanded Family Leave

At three years old, Hannah McGill isn’t quite old enough to work at Spinutech, but that hasn’t stopped her or her eight-month-old brother Max from appearing on numerous video calls.

Team members at Spinutech have been working from home since March of 2020, and that includes Hannah’s and Max’s mom, Lauren McGill, a Sr. Project Manager at Spinutech.

When Lauren has taken video calls from the desk in one of the bedrooms at her house, Hannah can often be seen in the background, either playing on the iPad or spinning in circles. Max has yet to master walking, so no spinning in circles for him, but it’s not out of the ordinary for Max to be seen on calls smacking Lauren in the face or grabbing for her computer mouse and keyboard.

Hannah and Max are not the only members of Spinutech’s extended family that have become fixtures on video calls. Not long after video calls replaced conference calls as more people started working from home at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, children, pets, and even spouses were making cameo appearances, as the line between work and home was erased.

Maintaining a healthy work/life balance has always been a core value at Spinutech, but these glimpses into our team members’ home lives have served as a reminder that everyone on our team has two full-time jobs: their work and their family. 

Doing Our Part to Support New Parents at Spinutech

With that in mind, Spinutech has decided to expand our maternity leave to provide fully-paid coverage for up to 12 weeks and our paternity leave for up to 4 weeks, ensuring our team members have ample time to bond with their newly born, adopted or fostered children.

The decision to expand family leave benefits came after listening to feedback from the team and putting careful thought and consideration into how Spinutech can best support their families.

To team members like Lauren, who have children of their own and are intimately familiar with the challenges of being a parent, the expanded family leave is an essential benefit.

"As any parent knows, the stress that comes with a new child is unlike anything else in life. As much as we'd like to think we have it all figured out, the reality is that so much of it is out of our control,” Lauren says. “It's a relief to know that your company has you covered when it comes to maternity leave and supports the 12-week period of time that all children and parents need. Providing this benefit eliminates one worry from the minds of new parents and reinforces the family values we hold so sacred here at Spinutech."

Paid Maternity Leave is Uncommon in the U.S.

Maternity leave, specifically, has been a topic of discussion for many years, especially because the United States is the only high-income country in the world that does not mandate paid maternity leave at the federal level. In fact, only 40% of employers in the U.S. offer paid maternity leave at all, and even then the average amount is 8 weeks.

Merging with Bayshore Solutions in January of 2021 bolstered Spinutech’s ability to offer strong benefits in a competitive hiring market, and Kim Davidson, VP of Team Member Support, quickly identified family leave as an area where the company could stand apart.

“We were missing opportunities to provide time away for families,” Kim says. “As a company, you can talk about being committed to a healthy work/life balance, but the strength of that commitment is really reflected in the quality of benefits you offer.”

Spinutech celebrated its 20th year of business in 2020 and has grown to more than 170 team members since its humble beginnings as a company of three college kids in Iowa. But through all of the growth, Marc Reifenrath, CEO of Spinutech, has been steadfast in his determination to maintain a culture that values its team members on a personal and professional level.

Expanded family leave was an opportunity to do exactly that.

“As our company continues to grow, we want to be able to compete with other large employers, but never at the expense of the close-knit feel that has been there from the beginning,” Marc says. “How we differentiate ourselves is in the support we provide our team members, especially those who are growing their families and need that valuable time at home.”

Spinutech will continue to look for ways to strengthen support of our team members both at work and home, but we’re proud of the steps we’ve been able to take to expand our benefits.